C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Aside from a back panel that needs heat to come off, the Galaxy S24 FE looks decently repairable.
- Most internal components pop out after removing a few screws and detaching a cable or two.
- Only the screen looks particularly annoying to access.
Samsung’s Galaxy S24 FE just launched last week, and we’ve got to say: It’s really working for us. The latest edition of Samsung’s budget flagship family is hitting a lot of the right notes, and while it’s not going to distract us from the S25 over the horizon, it’s still a great entry to round-out Samsung’s Galaxy lineup this year. If you love the idea of budget phones like this but want to make sure Samsung’s new effort is as robust and repairable as you’d like, you’re going to want to check out this in-depth teardown video.
The crew from PBKreviews are putting their S24 FE under the knife, and sharing the experience with all of us over on their YouTube channel (via PhoneArena). Getting into the phone starts with the application of gentle heat, followed by prying off the rear glass. The wireless charging coil and NFC antenna aren’t built into the rear shell here, and instead come off as part of their own daughter board that also includes a heat spreader for the phone’s chips.
From here, it’s pretty easy to start pulling out more of the sub-assemblies that make up the phone’s hardware: top speaker, 5G antenna, bottom speaker, and more. The selfie cam separates easily from the main board, to which the three primary cameras stay attached. Another heat spreader and thermal compound are employed to keep the main SoC and RAM cool.
Samsung uses some lengthy ribbon cables to stretch across the S24 FE’s battery, reaching down to a sub-board for USB and the interface for the phone’s display. The battery itself seems reasonably replaceable, and comes out without a ton of fuss. Other components down here, like the vibration motor, seems straightforward enough to access, but replacing the screen understandably looks like a bit of a chore, requiring disassembly on both sides of the phone’s body at once.
Under the battery, we can finally see the last major component of the S24 FE’s cooling system, as its vapor chamber is revealed. Compared to the Galaxy S23 FE, it’s clear that Samsung is largely sticking with the same internal design it knows, but looking at the two side-by-side it’s clear where changes were prioritized — like moving to a larger vapor chamber.
Overall, PBK gives the phone a repairability score of 8.5 our of 10, emphasizing both the ease of battery replacement, and the general availability of suitable spare parts as highlights.
